King Kong, racism, and related bullshit

[wolveraptor]

If I'm not mistaken: Catherine Zeta Jones is Welsh and she easily passes for Hispanic.

I didn't think she was pure Welsh.

[tharkûn]

Welsh and Finnish people aren't fair-skinned?

Some of the Finns, no. The Sami seem to have come fairly recently from the Asian steppes. But more I was saying there weren't romanticized, the Welsh were perennial miscreants, knaves, rebellous subjects, etc. who were fit for crushing under the English heel (allegedly the law is still on the books that you can shoot Welshmen after dark in certain municipalities). The Finns played a similar role to the Swedes. The romanticized people of the medievil ages were the English (Anglo-Saxon), Normans, Vikings, Franks. The Finns and Welsh were simply used because Tolkien liked the language.

[Durandal]

Apparently, King Kong is some sort of allegory for race relations and slavery or some such. This got me to thinking, do people who loudly point out racism in fictional material realize they are revealing that they are, infact, racist. Kong is black (no shit, he's a gorrilla) and is therefore meant to symbolize those poor victimized Africans. Niemoidians talk funny, are cowardly, and embrace capitalism, they must be Asians. Many Orcs have dark skin, so obviously they represent those darkie barbarians the British Empire was so fond of oppressing. All of this shows a tacit assumption that certain stereotypes and situations of different races are universally applicable within, and only with in, that race, and so anything fictional character, even a giant gorilla, that incorporates any such things is obviously representing a certain race.

So I ask, what the hell?

Actually, I saw a lot of parallels in the movie with Conrad's Heart of Darkness -- Hell, the book was used as a theme in the first half of the movie. And that was not a book which glorified European imperialism or "civilizing" the natives.

[Lord Revan]

Frankly I've read the Hobbit, LoTR and Silmarrion and I can't find any indications that the Elves had any darker skin (in general) then what was shown in the movies. as for the Orcs their skin varies alot and is hardly ever shown as anything close to natural (mainly being shades of Grey)

[thejester]

Welsh and Finnish people aren't fair-skinned?

Some of the Finns, no. The Sami seem to have come fairly recently from the Asian steppes. But more I was saying there weren't romanticized, the Welsh were perennial miscreants, knaves, rebellous subjects, etc. who were fit for crushing under the English heel (allegedly the law is still on the books that you can shoot Welshmen after dark in certain municipalities). The Finns played a similar role to the Swedes. The romanticized people of the medievil ages were the English (Anglo-Saxon), Normans, Vikings, Franks. The Finns and Welsh were simply used because Tolkien liked the language.

Except the whole point of LOTR was to create an Anglo-Saxon mythology, so Tolkien romanticised Dark Age races. Crushing the Welsh under the 'English' boot (even though it was done after the Norman invasion) didn't come until much later.